


A Night at the Ballet

by starrnobella



Series: starrnobella's Christmas Countdown [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ballet, Christmas Fluff, F/M, The Nutcracker, chrismas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2016-12-07
Packaged: 2018-09-07 03:37:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8781491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrnobella/pseuds/starrnobella
Summary: Christmas is always hard for her, but he makes the creation of a few new traditions a little bit easier.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GaeilgeRua](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaeilgeRua/gifts).



> A/N: This one was inspired by a suggestion from the wonderful k-lynne317. Thank you to xxDustNight88 for beta-ing this story for me! :) 
> 
> Title: A Night at the Ballet  
> Rating: K  
> Pairing: Severus and Hermione  
> Summary: Christmas is always hard for her, but he makes the creation of a few new traditions a little bit easier.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing besides the plot of this story. I do not write for profit. Thank you to J. K. Rowling for all the wonderful characters that we love to write about!
> 
> If you enjoy the story, please remember to review! Reviews make me want to continue writing. Some of these are my first attempts at a pairing, so please keep that in mind!
> 
> Love always,  
> ~starr

It was an annual tradition, something special that she always did with her parents to celebrate the holidays. Except, since she wiped their memories and sent them to Australia, it just wasn't the same anymore. Since the war, she had been traveling to Australia and purchasing a ticket to see the Nutcracker on the same evening that she knew her parents would be attending. She would sit just a few rows back from them, so it was like she was there with them even though they had no idea who she was.

Although, this year, she decided to forgo the trip to Australia. The whole situation was too painful for her and since she had started a new relationship, she didn't want to explain why she wouldn't be home for Christmas. It would be easier just to skip the trip all together and save herself just a little bit of the pain. Besides, Severus had been so sweet to her lately because he knew this time of year was difficult for her because it reminded her of the war.

She had been sulking around her flat for a little over a week now. Severus, having taken notice, was concerned. Usually when she began to sulk, something was bothering her. When something was _really_ bothering her, the obsessive compulsions that were a result her post traumatic stress disorder from the war were in full force. That also meant that she would start to shut down and he would have to work twice as hard to get inside her head.

"Tell me what it is you usually do to celebrate the holidays?" he asked her one morning while they were enjoying their breakfast.

"You don't want to hear about that," she answered with a shrug as she pulled her attention into the article she was pretending to read.

"Miss Granger," Severus warned, setting down the pages of the paper he'd been reading.

"I don't want to talk about it," she cried and ran off towards the bedroom, slamming the door behind her as soon as she got inside.

Severus followed after her. He had pushed her just a little too far. He wished that he could understand why she had shut down so quickly.

"Hermione, open the door," he pleaded standing outside the bedroom. He heard no response, the only sound was that of her crying. Slowly, he opened the door to her bedroom and found her curled up in a ball on the bed, crying into her pillow. If he had a heart, it would have broken it to see her like this. Cautiously, he walked over towards the bed and took a seat behind her.

"Pet, talk to me," he told her as he placed a gentle hand on her lower back. "Why are you so upset?"

Taking a deep breath, Hermione pulled herself up off her pillow and she wiped the tears from her eyes before she began to tell him her story.

"For as long as I can remember, my parents would take me to see the Christmas performance of the Nutcracker to celebrate. We would get all dressed up and go out to a fancy dinner before heading to the theater. It was my favorite part of the season; I would look forward to it every year," she started, but had to stop half way through to calm herself back down before she started crying again. Severus took notice of that and reached for her hand. The least he could do was try to comfort her as she retold this story.

"Prior to my last year at Hogwarts before the War, I erased myself from my parents memories and then they moved to Australia. Every year at this time, I take a trip to Australia because my parents still go to see the Nutcracker every year. I go and get a ticket for a few rows behind where they sit and it's like I'm seeing it with them like I did when I was little. This year I decided to forgo my trip because it just gets more and more painful to go and see them, but not have them remember me. I just want to forget Christmas this year," she said before the tears started falling again and she collapsed into Severus's lap.

That was not what Severus was expecting to hear from her. His best guess would have been that she just didn't like celebrating Christmas because it had been a miserable experience for her as a child, not that it was something that she had done to save her parents from harm. As he comforted her, an idea came to mind and he hoped that she would agree to it.

"What if we went to the ballet here this weekend?" Severus suggested. She slowly lifted her head up to look at him as she wiped the tears away from her eyes.

"What?" she asked weakly.

"Would you like to attend this weekend's performance of the Nutcracker?" he repeated.

She looked him in the eyes. She could see that he wasn't entirely interested in attending, and she didn't want to force him into doing something that he didn't want to do.

"No, no. We don't have to go. I've already come to terms with the fact that I can't keep doing this to myself. It all hurts too much," she replied.

"Then let's start a new tradition of going. You and I will dress up and go to the theater. Then, after the show, we will go for dinner at a nice restaurant. After that we can go to a coffee shop and find some place to go and look at Christmas lights. How does that sound?" Severus proposed as he watched the light in her eyes brighten.

"But you don't want to go," she responded.

"I didn't ask myself if I wanted to go, I was asking if you wanted to go with me," Severus replied.

"But you'll hate it."

"Not if I'm going with you."

Hermione searched his eyes for any questionable doubt that he was only going to go back on his offer. Finding none, she slowly began to nod her head.

"Okay," she said softly, "Let's start a new tradition."

Severus smiled and kissed her softly on the top of her head.

***

The night of the show arrived and Hermione could barely contain her excitement as she got ready for the evening out on the town. She and Severus went out shopping for some new attire for the special occasion. She hadn't let him see what it was that she had picked out though. She wanted to to be a surprise. With the last flick of mascara coating her lashes, Hermione decided it was time to put on her evening gown. It was a floor-length, backless, emerald green dress with a plunging neckline, something she was sure that Severus would love. She finished her outfit with the single emerald teardrop, silver necklace he had bought her for her birthday. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror and headed out into the sitting room of her flat where he was waiting for her.

"What do you think?" she called from behind him, causing him to turn in the direction of her voice. He was completely speechless. She looked like something from one of his dreams. Not a dream he had all that often, but one he had on occasion.

Finally able to come up with the right words, he spoke, "You look stunning, Miss Granger."

She smiled at him., having succeeded in her goal. Making a guy speechless was always a goal to strive for. She couldn't think of a time that she'd done that to him outside of the bedroom. This was quite an accomplishment for her.

"So do you, sir," she said.

"Severus," he corrected.

"I was only following suit. You called me Miss Granger," she mocked. Severus rolled his eyes at her. Clever little witch, she was.

"Ready to go, Hermione?" he asked.

Slowly she nodded her head, "As long as you promise to hold my hand the whole time."

Severus smiled, "I think I can handle that. Merry Christmas, Hermione."

She kissed him on the cheek softly, "Merry Christmas, Severus."


End file.
